


Looking the Wrong Way

by anstaar



Series: Unknown Relations [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: AU, Gen, Rivalry, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-28
Updated: 2012-01-28
Packaged: 2017-10-30 06:24:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/328755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anstaar/pseuds/anstaar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hiashi’s first real mission with his team reveals several unappreciated facts</p>
            </blockquote>





	Looking the Wrong Way

**Author's Note:**

> This story is probably AU and contains my attempts at writing fighting

No one understood just how hard it was to be the heir of the noblest clan in Konohagakure (not that anyone ever seems to try to understand). Most of the time, Main House Hyuuga did not join 'teams.' It was a well acknowledged fact, among the members of the clan, that their skill (born from the unity of the purity of their bloodline and the perfection of their style) was so far beyond genin level that it would cause pain and jealously to their non-Hyuuga teammates and could not, of course, benefit by instruction from a non-Hyuuga teacher. During this time of warfare, however, Hiashi had nobly sacrificed himself for the cause of unity by joining a team. It had been wholly unappreciated.   
  
It was bad enough that he had been assigned to Jiraiya, the least of the third Hokage's students, who was well known for his complete lack of respect for the clans. It was worse that one of his teammates was the second son of the Uchiha clan head. It was a sad fact that neither of the two founding clans of Konoha were made up of the type of people it was appropriate to associate with. Actually, the Senju weren't that bad, they merely had been ninja before the founding of the hidden villages had allowed the term 'ninja' to gain some respect when several of the more honorable clans permitted some of their members to be trained in the arts. There was nothing 'not that bad' about the Uchiha. They were sneaks and thieves who had no compulsion against stabbing a man in the back as soon as he went to sleep. Fugaku was a perfect representation of their usual degradation of spirit. When Hiashi had entered the room on their first meeting, Fugaku had actually laughed and asked how many times he had failed the genin test! Yes, Hiashi was slightly older (and much more mature and skilled) than a brat like Fugaku but had never failed! Namikaze, however, was the worst.    
  
If someone had told Hiashi that when he first received his team assignment he would have laughed (or, more properly, raised a delicate eyebrow of condescension at them). The boy was a foreigner but quiet and well behaved, for a commoner. Heading home after his sensei's infuriating test, Hiashi had already constructed the future workings of his team. He could see himself rescuing his teammates from whatever trouble Fugaku would, invariably, land them in. Fugaku would apologize and learn to follow his orders, Minato would give him a grateful smile, all he had heard of the Hyuuga clan confirmed. They could even train together, occasionally. As senpai, and far superior ninja, it was his duty to help his less fortunate teammates develop whatever paltry skills they might possess (far away from Fugaku's family's corrosive influence). It took less than five minutes for these happy dreams to shatter completely.    
  
The mission had gone completely wrong. It was their first C-ranked mission. They had received it much sooner than was usual but there was a war on, even if Konoha had yet to become officially involved, and anyway, they had a Hyuuga, a Sannin and two adequate genin. In the description the mission had sounded simple enough. There were poachers on one of the grand estates who had been able to avoid capture by the groundskeepers. Jiraiya had declared it the perfect opportunity to work on their teamwork and had left the planning and execution of the mission to them while he cheerfully partook in wine and the company of their client's daughter.  
  
Hiashi was the team leader, self-elected, true, but the only real option, but Fugaku refused to listen to him. They fell to arguing, which Hiashi knew was beneath his dignity, and in the end they both stomped off through the forest in different directions, leaving Minato behind. That was the first mistake. The second was that he didn't activate his Byakugan. His night vision was god and using his eyes too freely gave him migraines. Anyway, he thought, the poachers were most likely a couple of half-starved peasants who would quail at the sight of his headband. Of course, 'most likely' wasn't 'are' and he didn't even sense a presence until a rough cloth was wrapped roughly around his eyes the world went completely black.  
  
It was his every nightmare come true and he was frozen, unmoving. Unseeing. He was tied up and rolled down into a shallow pit. His captors were talking but he couldn't listen; he was too busy trying to activate his Byakugan and failing and he couldn't see and couldn't see and. He had never been truly blind before. They said that a Hyuuga's eyes were never really closed. Uncle Hikaru said that even without the Byakugan their eyes are different, allowing them to see when so many others are blinded. Hizashi said that a true Hyuuga's eyes worked even in death and so when a Branch House Member died and their eyes were burned away they came looking for living Main House eyes to take over so they could see again. Whatever the truth was, it had never been so dark that Hiashi couldn't see  _something_.     
  
He knew, in the small part of his mind that wasn't panicking, that the blindfold must have seals inscribed on it and it was his duty to escape so that he could regroup and lead an attack against this group of dangerous foreign ninja. Still, his body remained frozen. He only 'woke up' when another body was rolled down on top of him.   
  
"Hell," Fugaku muttered, then hisses, "can you move? The knots are good but I think if I roll over and you wiggle up a bit I could manage to untie yours. I was best at traps," Hiashi could almost see Fugaku's smug smile and it was almost as comforting as was the weight of his teammate on his back and the slight smell of hair jell in his noise. Hiashi breathed in a deep breath full of the scent of fresh turned soil and breathed out.  
  
"I can move. They have training, though, and a seal master." Fugaku nodded, his hair prickling against Hiashi's neck, his breath warm on his shoulder.    
  
"Yeah, but I don't think they're watching up that closely. I was watching them, before they grabbed me: they know we have a teammate and a teacher still out there. The good ones have gone back out to find sensei and Minato-kun. Besides, I'll need less than a minute." He was as good as his word and soon Hiashi could feel the pain of blood rushing back to his fingers. He wanted to rip his blindfold off but he was a ninja and a Hyuuga and he would not let his self-control be shattered again. Besides, Fugaku was balanced precariously as it was.    
  
Their weapons had been removed and Hiashi was, slightly, less capable at untying knots and it felt like months passed before he was sure that his teammate's hands were free. Fugaku rolled off him and they lay side by side, waiting for any response from their captors. When none came he whispered, "Untie my blindfold." Thankfully, Fugaku didn't argue, even if it seemed to take him an excruciatingly long time to undo the knot that kept Hiashi imprisoned. His eyes ached from the sudden arrival of light, but even from behind the film of tears he could see. Fugaku was carefully patting himself down, searching for any weapon that might have escaped notice. Hiashi glanced up and realized why their captors don't seem that bother with keeping a close eye on them. The opening of their earthy prison is covered by glowing chains of charka, completely impervious to hand or blade.    
  
Hiashi blinked and the world unfolded for him. Nearest were their two guards, both of whose moderately developed chakra systems were flowing with a very odd chakra. He paused a second trying to work out who, or what, they might be before starting to stretch his vision out further when he got a flash of a familiar system. Minato was heading toward them, fast, not even bothering to try to hide his presence.  
  
Minato didn't have a lot of chakra. He was ten years old, young even for a Konoha starting to gear up for war. He ran very fast and was capable in all of the basic skills. Hiashi had never seen him really fight. Minato had come to Hiashi for a plan for the Bell Test and had seemed happy to set up several basic traps. Now he stood on a tree branch and stared down into the clearing, face missing his slight smile for the first time since they met.    
  
The guards attacked first. They were good. Hiashi would estimate high genin level (embarrassing but he was sure these weren't the one that had grabbed him) with skill gained more from fighting than Academy classes. They'd worked together before too, knives interspersed with a twisted spin of chakra that reminded Hiashi of a chakra thread. Minato moved. Events looked different when Hiashi watched like this, the world couldn't like to his eyes, but he couldn't quite believe it when Minato shoved his chakra out, like a shield, like a Hyuuga, and smashed through. He was between the two men and he was small and up close and Hiashi could see his hands flash.   
  
The chakra chains vanished and they climbed out of their makeshift prison. Hiashi saw, eyes relaxed, Minato kneeling on top of one of the guards. It was a frozen tableau, for a moment, and then Fugaku laughed and punched Minato on the shoulder.  
  
"What happened to the other thieves?" He asked.  
  
"They won't be a problem," Minato said and his smile was back but neither of them doubted him for a moment.  
  
They returned to the house where they found Jiraiya sitting on top of the bound bodies of their other attackers. Fugaku told the story, a story he doesn't even  _know_. Minato accepted Jiraiya's praise with his little 'I'm nothing special' laugh that only infuriated Hiashi now that he realized it wasn't true.  
  
The team returned to Konoha slowly. Jiraiya's pouch was full of money and he hummed cheerfully while sampling some of the wine the Lord gifted them with after he had realized the true extent of the danger he had been facing. Minato was the undisputed team leader and Fugaku accepted this with obnoxious good grace and seemed to have no problems bouncing along behind a younger boy. All Hiashi could see was Minato's back.


End file.
